


left my heart in salt lake city

by voguewylies



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gina Porter Needs A Hug, ricky bowen is an idiot, rini endgame (sorry)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:48:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27853702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voguewylies/pseuds/voguewylies
Summary: “I didn’t think we’d ever see you again.”“That makes two of us.”
Relationships: Ricky Bowen & Gina Porter, Ricky Bowen & Nini Salazar-Roberts, Ricky Bowen/Gina Porter, Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	left my heart in salt lake city

**Author's Note:**

> @wizrdwheezes on twitter!

Gina left.

She gets a call from her mom in the middle of the party on Thanksgiving night and leaves. She moves to another state in the middle of the year, leaving Salt Lake City, leaving East High, leaving Ricky Bowen behind.

And now here she was? She waltzes in, in the middle of opening night and goes on for Kourtney as Taylor. Here she was, performing the dance number she had worked so hard on getting right, only for it to be taken out of her grasp, and it’s given back to her just as easily.

Ricky watches everyone perform Stick to the Status Quo, talking with one of the crew members, and takes another glance at the stage. He sees a holographic shoe running around and he has to do a doubletake. At another glance he sees Gina Porter in all her glory, absolutely nailing a split at the end of the number, smiling brightly at the audience.

\----------------

He’s waiting backstage, waiting for Gina. He wants to see if she’ll walk in behind EJ, see if she’ll be coming back to him. He wants to make sure he wasn’t just hallucinating. Going through Gina-withdrawals was taking a toll on him, he wants to make sure that she’s actually here. He watches as everyone walks in, talking about how they killed that number, how _she _killed that number. She walks in behind EJ, laughing about how he messed up that one move. She stops as she sees Ricky waiting for her, she knew he was going to be here. How could he not be? She had left just as easily as she had walked into his life, she knew he deserved an explanation as to why she left so abruptly.__

____

____

The two make eye contact, Ricky’s eyes filling with relief. She’s here, she’s actually here. “Still can’t believe you’re actually back.” He says, because it’s true, he was just getting used to the fact that she had moved away forever. He was getting used to hanging out without her, now it was just him and Red again. He was getting used to not waiting for Gina to walk out of East High’s front doors after every school day. He was getting used to living a Gina-less life once again.

“Yeah, well, one night only.” She knows that after this, she’ll be gone again. She knows that in less than 24 hours, she’ll be back with her mom in New York City. “Don’t blink, you’ll miss me.”

“I didn’t think we’d ever see you again.” 

“That makes two of us.” She replies, never thinking that she’d be here on opening night. She had left Salt Lake thinking she’d never be back, that it was just another state to fill in on her map. She had left without saying goodbye, thinking she’d never see Ricky again.

“I wish...” He hesitates. “.... I don’t know what to say.” You’d think that after all that time apart, Ricky would know exactly what he wants to say to her. He wants to say how she never should’ve left without saying goodbye. How she shouldn’t have ignored his texts, he had just wanted to check on her, make sure she’s alright. He wants to tell her that his mom flew in from Chicago just to see the play and how excited he was about it. He wants to tell her how much he missed her when she was gone. How much he missed her homemade cookies that she’d make off of YouTube. He wants to say so much to her, but he doesn’t know where to begin, so he doesn’t.

“Don’t say anything.” She knows that anything he’d say would just break her heart even more. Anything he’d say would have her calling her mom, begging for another chance to stay. The silence between them had been comfortable before, but now it was just something that had to be filled with small talk. So, she tries to relieve the tension between them by making a joke. “Just fly, dude.”

“What?” 

“It’s time to getcha head in the game.” 

Carlos interrupts them, telling Ricky that he needs to get into his gear and costume for the number. “Gotta go.” This time, Ricky’s the one to leave Gina behind. He walks away, leaving Gina backstage. There’s so much more to be said between them, so much time that was lost, so many adventures they never got to go on. But for now, Gina settles for a “Bye.”

\-----------------

After the curtain call, Gina leaves to find Ricky. She wants to tell him how amazing she thought he did. She wants him to hug her and spin her around like he did the last time she told him how amazing he was. She wants one last chance to feel Ricky’s arms around her. She wants another chance to say goodbye, correctly this time. She wants to offer to keep in touch, she knows it won’t be the same, but she doesn’t want to lose him again. She doesn’t want to be just another person in Ricky’s life that walked out on him. She doesn’t get the chance to, because Ricky’s arms are around Nini Salazar-Roberts.

This moment is going to be on a replay in her mind for the rest of the night, watching the boy she loves declare his love for another girl. She knows she shouldn’t be so jealous of Nini, shouldn't be wishing that was her instead. She knows that after tonight, Nini will be the one to stay. It'll be good for Ricky, she thinks, getting someone who left come running back into his life. Gina has to leave Salt Lake once again, but Nini? Nini won’t be waking up at 5 AM the next day to get on a plane to New York. At 5 AM, Nini is going to be in her bed, sound asleep. And Gina won’t be. 

Ashlyn Caswell doesn’t offer Gina a place to stay for the rest of the year. Nini Salazar-Roberts doesn’t get an offer to go to a prestigious performing arts school. So Gina walks away from the dressing room and leaves Ricky Bowen behind one last time. She leaves East High, for good. And she leaves her heart in Salt Lake City.


End file.
